Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (9.1997(1998))

MARINA EL-ALAMEIN

RESTORATION WORK 1997
Stanislaw Medeksza
The Polish-Egyptian Mission worked from April 3 until the
end of May 1997.1 The conservation effort was directed at houses
in the habitation district in the southern part of the ancient town.
The main objective was to complete the restoration work in
the H9 house complex, and the conservation of house H9a and of
one of the tombs in the western necropolis. The architecture of the
H7 and H7a house complex was also largely recorded, with
conservation intended to be carried out in the coming seasons.
HOUSES H9 AND H9A
The natural elements, especially water penetrating the walls,
have an exceptionally detrimental effect on the condition of the
architecture preserved in Marina. Walls tend to disintegrate and
need to be rebuilt with new stone-and-lime filling of the core.
Obviously, the tops of stone walls suffer the biggest damage, but it
is the partly mudbrick superstructure, which comes from the latest
stage of rebuilding, that suffers the most, disintegrating completely
within a very short period of time.

1 The Mission headed by Prof. Dr. Stanislaw Medeksza included: Dr. Rafal Czerner,
Dr. Ewa Luzyniecka, Mr Zbigniew Solarewicz, architects; Dr. Andrzej Biemacki,
archeologist; Dr. Jozef Adamowski, constructor. The SCA was represented by
Mr Mohammed Ali Abd el-Razek, Chief Inspector, and inspectors: Messrs. Mahmoud
Roshdy Embaby, Mamdouh Mahmoud, Rabia Ibrahim i Abd el-Hay Shehata.
The Mission is greatly indebted to the SCA authorities, in Cairo and Alexandria, and
especially to Prof. Dr. Ali Hassan, Secretary General of the SCA, Dr. Abd el-Salem Bakr,
Western Delta General Director, and Messrs. Ahmed el-Fatah, Hassan Shehata and
Mohammed Ali Abd el-Razek from the SCA in Alexandria, for their unfailing help and
support.

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